This week's decisions announced by Egypt's Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli that professional sports will resume to a degree brought an air of optimism to the country's athletes and fans and revived hopes that by the third week of June some sports will be played full-time, especially the most popular of them all, football. The decisions also included the re-opening of sports clubs, youth centres and gymnasiums. The decisions were met with a positive feedback from sports officials who say the resumption of sports could save sports clubs from potential bankruptcy. Since sports were suspended two months ago because of the coronavirus, sports clubs have been in the throes of a financial crisis. Following the news, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced that the domestic league will continue to be suspended until 15 June, according to the government. However, many football lovers and media took to both mainstream and social media to reveal that the football league will resume on 15 June -- which is not exactly the case. According to Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi, if the league is to be resumed, then it should be announced at least a month in advance in order to prepare the teams for the safety precautions they will need to take. Speaking to commentator Ahmed Shobeir on radio the minister said that if the league is to be resumed, it would not be before August in order to give the teams time to train and adjust to safety precautions. “Deciding to resume the league and setting the date for the kick-off for the remaining of the league or cancelling the whole competition lies in the hands of the EFA, not the ministry,” Sobhi said. “Our role is to consult with EFA officials as well as with the health sector and discuss all the pros and cons. According to the decision they will take we will provide the facilities required to move on.” Later, one rumour swirled on a television show that the Egyptian league had been cancelled indefinitely for this season. The Ministry of Youth and Sports immediately issued a statement denying the news. “Cancelling the league is not my decision; it is the EFA's decision. The ministry's opinion is just consultative, providing solutions and suggestions,” the minister said. Sobhi emphasised that the ministry is still keen on resuming the football season if conditions in the country are appropriate. He added that he had asked the normalisation committee chairman Amr Al-Ganaini to draw up two different plans on whether to resume the competition or cancel it. “It's necessary to have a plan in case the season is cancelled, taking into consideration who will be crowned the champion, who will qualify for the continental competitions and who will be relegated,” Sobhi said. “We expect a final decision to be announced before the end of May,” he added. Football in Egypt has been suspended since mid-March due to the pandemic, while clubs have halted training and asked players to stay fit at home until further notice. By the time the league was suspended at the beginning of the 19th week, defending champions Ahly were close to winning a fifth straight title as they lead the standings with 49 points after 17 games, 16 ahead of the nearest challengers Arab Contractors who have played one more game. Sixteen weeks remain for the end of the league, with 150 matches to be played. On the regional level, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) set 15 May for member associations to send their plans for their league competitions, whether to be resumed or cancelled, in order to assess its 2019-2020 African competitions. Both the African Champions League and the Confederation Cup were suspended at the semi-final stage which was scheduled to be held in May. A new date is expected soon. Egypt's Ahly and Zamalek are in the semi-final of the Champions League, and will respectively meet Wydad and Raja Casablanca, both from Morocco, while Egypt's Pyramids are in the semi-final of the Confederation Cup against Guinean outfit Horoya. On the international level, a match to raise funds for Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) is to be held by the FIFA, its first-ever official football match. It will be a global collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable global access to new coronavirus essential health technologies, including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. “It is our responsibility to demonstrate solidarity and continue to do everything we can to participate and support the efforts in the combat against the pandemic,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “We have been active in raising awareness via several other campaigns, and FIFA has also contributed financially to this cause, but now we commit ourselves to organise this global fundraising event when the health situation permits, even if this is only in some months' time.” The FIFA intends to take the opportunity of hosting the match to widen the reach of football beyond the traditional sporting network and into wider society to help support efforts at tackling the coronavirus. “The FIFA Foundation will engage not only with the worldwide football community, but also other stakeholders from non-governmental organisations to other foundations, and from the private sector to governments, in order to ensure this initiative is a significant help to those who are at the forefront of research in combating Covid-19,” said FIFA Foundation Executive Chairman Mauricio Macri. “Our focus is to develop and support a society that can provide a balance in terms of prevention from such diseases and the future life, creating an environment where sustainability can truly prosper.” “Further details of this unique event, including the location, date, participants and format will be announced by the FIFA Foundation in due course,” added FIFA Foundation CEO Youri Djorkaeff or Gianni Infantino? “Various scenarios and plans are currently under consideration, all of which are in line with health and other relevant guidelines from respective governments and international organisations.” Meanwhile, Egypt's Ministry of Youth of Sports has managed to bring back 225 stranded athletes abroad. They were either in training or studying. An additional 214 athletes from Saudi Arabia and the US are on their way back. “The country is keen on bringing back all our athletes home. We are working closely with the sports federations and their athletes who are stranded abroad especially those studying under sports scholarships. We are also in contact with our embassies abroad to assist our athletes and arrange for their return,” Sobhi said. Apart from football, the Egyptian National Olympic Committee (ENOC) has been holding several meetings with Olympic sports federations. “Though sports are suspended, we are still working on our plans as scheduled,” Sherif Al-Erian, secretary-general of the ENOC, said. “The lockdown and suspension of sports has actually given us the chance to follow up with all sports federations on their future plans, whether the federations who have qualified for the Olympic Games or those which are yet to go through,” Al-Erian told Al-Ahram Weekly. “The Olympic Games as we all know has now been postponed to next year, which gives us more time for planning and training. Those who already qualified have been asked to provide us with their needs to continue their building-up plans for the games. And those whose qualifications have been delayed need also to provide us with their needs and programme so we can provide them with the facilities that would enable them to qualify,” Al-Erian, also president of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation, explained. He added that the Modern Pentathlon had not finished its qualifications. “Olympic tickets were to be determined by June this year. Egypt had hosted the first of the World Cup series of five competitions which decide the Olympic qualifiers in addition to the World Championship. World Cup I was held in Egypt and concluded 1 March. The second edition was scheduled to take place two weeks later but then Covid-19 suspended everything. Accordingly, the International Federation (UIPM) decided to postpone the remaining four world cups and the world championship to next year, thus cancelling all modern pentathlon competitions this year,” Al-Erian said. The ENOC was scheduled to hold a board meeting on Wednesday to follow up with sports federations the implementation of the new decisions by the government regarding the resumption of sports as well as the drug ban imposed on the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation and the elections of sports federations. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 May, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
